Another Etsy find!

I always have a soft spot for adorable creatures. I know this isn’t really wedding related but hey, I can’t help but share. Hope it brightens your rainy day. 

Made by Katie from Skunkboy Creatures!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Wishing everyone a VERY Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Can you believe it’s almost 2009?!

Here’s some pictures from my recent trip to Atlanta to visit my best friend from high school!

At the World of Coco-Cola

Stone Mountain Park

Shopping area in Downtown Atlanta

This picture was from a few years ago when she was a bridesmaid at my wedding! None of my DIY projects would have come to fruition without her help!

Have a GREAT HOLIDAY and see you next year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can’t believe it’s already that time of the year ~ HOLIDAY SEASON!!! Wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving!

Election 2008

Did you? 

Finally…a post!

I do have to apologize for being missing in action for so long. January was kind of my month off. I took the time to finish up a few personal items (that if left unattended, would have dragged ANOTHER year). And next thing I know, a few meetings here…a wedding there…it’s already the end of February! I missed posting about Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day. So I guess this will be the beginning of a few ‘catch up’ posts. =) And I promise I will do my China Trip review (geesh..if I wait any longer, I might as well post about my next big trip!).

Great news is this year is looking VERY exciting. I have a couple of out-of-town brides, brides planning their wedding at private residences (always my fav), couple of good friends getting married, an impending proposal, and finally, I’m going to be a bridesmaid! OH THE FUN we’re going to have!

I’ll keep this post short ~flexing my posting muscles~I promise to keep up! And keeping with the theory (post without picture is no post at all). Here’s a picture of me, my BIL, and my in laws on the steps of Yunnan University, China.

Happy 2008!

Okay…REALLY…I’m BACK! I know it’s unforgivable that I haven’t posted since leaving for my vacation back in Nov (and just so you know, this is a no picture post ~ oh the shame!). But seriously, I’ve been swamped. Never again will I take vacation during Thanksgiving. Hubs and I came back and all the Christmas decorations were already up! It felt like we ‘almost’ missed Christmas. I’m ashamed to say we didn’t decorate at all (I barely had time to get the Christmas cards out). It took weeks just to sort through emails, request for meetings, buy Christmas gifts (I almost forgo gifts until Mom gave me her sad ‘puppy dog eyes’), and coordinated my last wedding of the year! 

So now that’s all done…I’m looking forward to the new year! I have quiet a few weddings I’m looking forward to; not to mention my very good friend WENDY who’s getting married in Sept (she finally decided on a date & venue..hahaha). I will also be her ‘MOH’ ~ only second time in my life I assume that post. I am sad to say I’ll be missing two very good friend’s wedding (what’s up with May 2?) since I’m already booked for the day. But I am excited ~ new year, new beginnings ~ good luck to all 2008 brides and let the FUN begin!

China…here we come!

I am so excited ~ a real vacation! It’s for sure because we BOUGHT the tickets! I know, I know…not like I haven’t taken one recently. WELL, it has been a while. I went to visit my sister and her twins Jan 2007. So it’s been almost ONE year. And visiting to me isn’t really vacation. Last real vacation was to Europe (Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Munich) June 2006. I was hoping for Spain this year but it’ll have to wait…we’ll probably go next Sept for MIL’s 60th birthday.

Anyways, on to gush about my vacation. We are heading to southern China, Yunnan province. Hubs family are from there and to hear him talk, that is his ‘motherland’ and proud of it. I mean seriously, every person we meet from China, he will ask: ‘What province are you from. I’m from Yunnan.’ AS IF…the dude’s never even been there! I’m glad he’s proud and I’m happy we’re finally visiting. It’s been a long time coming.

We will be flying in through Hong Kong and landing in Kunming. Kunming is the capital city of Yunnan province. It has a long history and was the ancient gateway of the famed silk rode. Today Kunming is the heartbeat of Yunnan province, enjoying a reputation as one of Chinas’ most picturesque cites as well as being the most popular tourist destination in southwestern China. Like other major cities in China, Kunming combines an ancient and proud tradition with the dynamism of being a modern metropolis. ~tripadvisor

The weather I heard is much like here. I guess the exact location across the globe will be about northern Mexico. There are about 25 ethnic minorities in Kunming, and the city is celebrated as ‘City of Eternal Spring.’ It’s well known for it’s diverse cultures and breath-taking natural scenery (hubs’ afraid it’s going to be like Yosemite). I’m hoping we get to see the major attractions like the Shilin (Stone Forest), Xishan (West Hill), Grand Park, Black Dragon Pool and much more! Kunming is also famous for it’s bit part in history. China’s lifeline to the outside world ~ Burma Road ~ had one of its terminals at Kunming.

Lugu Lake

Shilin (Stone Forest) is a maze of grey limestone towers. A walkway let you wander around the rock formations. Nearby villages are inhabited by the Sani tribes people who sell handcraft and act as tour guides. The location of Shilin has once been covered by the ocean. When the ocean pulled back erosion has been shaping the stones to the impressive “forest” it is now.

Tour guides dress in traditional Sani outfits at Shilin

I’m expecting to see lots of different ethnicity, clothing, traditions…

This is the canal that runs through the city

Huating Temple in the West Hills area

We’ll be in China for about 10 days and before heading back to US, we will stop in Taiwan for 5 days. Depending on if I’m still angry at my sister, I’ll go visit her. Arghhh…I can sure hold a grudge. BUT…I won’t let that damper my spirits. I’m going on VACATION!

HAPPY HOLLOWEEN!

I wish I was a kid again. I remember first time going trick-o-treating….I was like ‘WOW, free candy!’ My parents dressed my sister and I up as clowns; identical even though she was 3 feet taller than me. And of course, when we were going house to house, people thought she was too old to be trick-o-treating. They thought sis was in college when in fact she was only 9!! We didn’t do many years of trick-o-treating before we moved on to giving out the ‘treats.’ We have a weird household, instead of candy, my dad is always giving out tee-shirts, posters, star war collectable coins, and oh yeah…that one year he was giving out small earphone radio thing-a-majig. We had kids coming back THREE times!

And now, I just want to borrow someone’s kid to take my dogs out in costume. Oh how we evolve. =)

Mom’s BIG 6-0 Birthday!

Mom’s big 60th birthday was last weekend. Initially…I was full of ideas: we were taking a trip to Napa, then we were going on a 4 day cruise down to Mexico, 3 nights in Vegas, etc, etc. In the end, it was a day in Temecula. I was a little disappointed (okay, ‘little’ is an understatement). I guess it took me a whole week to ‘get over’ the disappointment to actually blog about it. Geesh, if it was last weekend, you wouldn’t hear the end of it. In the end, I realize what was important was that my mom was happy and we were able to celebrate with love ones. And that my sister who wasn’t able to join us and fouled my plans…it’s her lost not ours (okay, maybe I’m not completely over it yet).

My aunts and uncles from San Jose flew down to celebrate with us. We had a fun dinner at Yamashiro (one of Mom’s favorite because of the view, not the food). Since it was extremely dark at the restaurant, I didn’t take any pictures. My little cousin B also joined us for the festivities. After dinner, we head to Old Town Pasadena for the infamous Pinkberry. My parents and my aunts/uncles never tried it before. They were amazed at the long line especially since the night was cold. Here we are waiting in line.

After the little frozen yogurt adventure,we head home for cake cutting and present openings. The cake was dark forest with a layer of Chinese pudding ~ it’s from a Chinese bakery by hubs’ work. Besides the ‘American’ sounding flavor, the cake itself was the typical yummy, light Chinese style cake.

Here’s hubs and I with Mom & Dad (yes, I’m wearing pajamas, it was a long day). Look at the pile of gifts! My aunts informed Mom all the gifts were just random junk from their house packaged nicely. It’s mainly just for the purpose of ripping open presents. They were JOKING of course. =D

Dad broke open one of his precious liquor collection. The sketch on the bottle is created by the master of art deco, world famous designer Erté. Initially there was 7 bottles in the set. Another bottle called “Inedit” has been launched in 1995 as a tribute to Erte’s life and work (he died in 1990). Only 4,000 units have been produced. The design on the bottle is the first one that Erte created for the Vigne bottle, but censored at that time on the American market because the girl on the draw was half nude.

Erté created the luscious shape of the decanter, and then conceived visuals to represent the seven stages of the courvoisier cognac-making process. Each one of the decanters is filled with an exceptionally rare blend of the best cognacs — some dating back to 1892 — the year of Erte’s birth. The third design in the series, “Distillation” inspired Erte to portray the coaxing of the precious spirit which is distilled from the wine, which reminded him of the genie appearing from Aladdin’s lamp. ~ Courvoisier

Dad has been collecting since the bottles were first released. A few years back he opened bottle #8 when we had a family reunion (the earlier bottles are higher in value since people started drinking them before the artist passed away). This time for Mom’s birthday, he opened bottle # 7 “la Part des Anges.” Prices vary drastically…I seen it for $500 on ebay to $1500 at retail.

Here’s my cousin B tempting the dog with persimmons.

The poor thing didn’t realize B was instructed not to give him any. A dog can dream though.

Next morning we headed to the Temecula wineries. I didn’t know what to expect. Temecula had much smaller scale wineries than Napa or Sonoma and the wines aren’t as good. But the positive is Temecula is only an hour drive. We started at the Hart Winery. It was fairly small (literally a small shack on a hill) but they are building another bigger structure in the back. The owners are very friendly and it was a great start to the day.

Next up, Thornton Winery. It’s a nice enough place but my only complaint was that I called ahead of time to see if I could bring my doggies, which they said I could. But look at the white sign to the right.

So the kids and I were out front in the lawn enjoying ourselves while the gang had lunch inside. I of course entertained myself playing on my iPhone ~ poor neglected kids.

Grandma came out after lunch to play with them. This is why I LOVE my mom. She really cares and always play with them and give them treats. My mom truly functions in the capacity of the grandma that spoils the grand kids rotten!

Then I called them for their afternoon treat and look how they come running.

Water, pupperoni, and chicken jerky.

Off to the other side, I saw the lawn was set up for a wedding. I was able to see the florist setting up before we left. The winery closes at 5pm and I’m assuming open to weddings after that. I can vouch for the food though. Mom bought me out a hamburger with grilled mushroom and it was delicious! I had my own little picnic under the trees.

All in all, Temecula was nice. It’s not comparable to the Napa or Sonoma but it’s our own little piece of wine country.

On our way home we went through the sand storm again. This time hubs had his camera ready. Initially we thought it was only in the morning but on our way home, it was just as bad. It’s only for a short two miles before you reach I-10 on the 15 freeway. You can see from the side of the picture how hard the wind was blowing. All the trees were tilted dangerously to the side. It felt like we were underwater and the trees were the seaweed floating with the current!

Sometimes it was so bad you could barely see the car in front of you. All the cars came to a standstill. I can only compare the experience to driving through thick fogs.

And this is why there’s high wind advisory.

Mom’s BIG 6-0 Birthday!

Mom’s big 60th birthday was last weekend. Initially…I was full of ideas: we were taking a trip to Napa, then we were going on a 4 day cruise down to Mexico, 3 nights in Vegas, etc, etc. In the end, it was a day in Temecula. I was a little disappointed (okay, ‘little’ is an understatement). I guess it took me a whole week to ‘get over’ the disappointment to actually blog about it. Geesh, if it was last weekend, you wouldn’t hear the end of it. In the end, I realize what was important was that my mom was happy and we were able to celebrate with love ones. And that my sister who wasn’t able to join us and fouled my plans…it’s her lost not ours (okay, maybe I’m not completely over it yet).

My aunts and uncles from San Jose flew down to celebrate with us. We had a fun dinner at Yamashiro (one of Mom’s favorite because of the view, not the food). Since it was extremely dark at the restaurant, I didn’t take any pictures. My little cousin B also joined us for the festivities. After dinner, we head to Old Town Pasadena for the infamous Pinkberry. My parents and my aunts/uncles never tried it before. They were amazed at the long line especially since the night was cold. Here we are waiting in line.

After the little frozen yogurt adventure,we head home for cake cutting and present openings. The cake was dark forest with a layer of Chinese pudding ~ it’s from a Chinese bakery by hubs’ work. Besides the ‘American’ sounding flavor, the cake itself was the typical yummy, light Chinese style cake.

Here’s hubs and I with Mom & Dad (yes, I’m wearing pajamas, it was a long day). Look at the pile of gifts! My aunts informed Mom all the gifts were just random junk from their house packaged nicely. It’s mainly just for the purpose of ripping open presents. They were JOKING of course. =D

Dad broke open one of his precious liquor collection. The sketch on the bottle is created by the master of art deco, world famous designer Erté. Initially there was 7 bottles in the set. Another bottle called “Inedit” has been launched in 1995 as a tribute to Erte’s life and work (he died in 1990). Only 4,000 units have been produced. The design on the bottle is the first one that Erte created for the Vigne bottle, but censored at that time on the American market because the girl on the draw was half nude.

Erté created the luscious shape of the decanter, and then conceived visuals to represent the seven stages of the courvoisier cognac-making process. Each one of the decanters is filled with an exceptionally rare blend of the best cognacs — some dating back to 1892 — the year of Erte’s birth. The third design in the series, “Distillation” inspired Erte to portray the coaxing of the precious spirit which is distilled from the wine, which reminded him of the genie appearing from Aladdin’s lamp. ~ Courvoisier

Dad has been collecting since the bottles were first released. A few years back he opened bottle #8 when we had a family reunion (the earlier bottles are higher in value since people started drinking them before the artist passed away). This time for Mom’s birthday, he opened bottle # 7 “la Part des Anges.” Prices vary drastically…I seen it for $500 on ebay to $1500 at retail.

Here’s my cousin B tempting the dog with persimmons.

The poor thing didn’t realize B was instructed not to give him any. A dog can dream though.

Next morning we headed to the Temecula wineries. I didn’t know what to expect. Temecula had much smaller scale wineries than Napa or Sonoma and the wines aren’t as good. But the positive is Temecula is only an hour drive. We started at the Hart Winery. It was fairly small (literally a small shack on a hill) but they are building another bigger structure in the back. The owners are very friendly and it was a great start to the day.

Next up, Thornton Winery. It’s a nice enough place but my only complaint was that I called ahead of time to see if I could bring my doggies, which they said I could. But look at the white sign to the right.

So the kids and I were out front in the lawn enjoying ourselves while the gang had lunch inside. I of course entertained myself playing on my iPhone ~ poor neglected kids.

Grandma came out after lunch to play with them. This is why I LOVE my mom. She really cares and always play with them and give them treats. My mom truly functions in the capacity of the grandma that spoils the grand kids rotten!

Then I called them for their afternoon treat and look how they come running.

Water, pupperoni, and chicken jerky.

Off to the other side, I saw the lawn was set up for a wedding. I was able to see the florist setting up before we left. The winery closes at 5pm and I’m assuming open to weddings after that. I can vouch for the food though. Mom bought me out a hamburger with grilled mushroom and it was delicious! I had my own little picnic under the trees.

All in all, Temecula was nice. It’s not comparable to the Napa or Sonoma but it’s our own little piece of wine country.

On our way home we went through the sand storm again. This time hubs had his camera ready. Initially we thought it was only in the morning but on our way home, it was just as bad. It’s only for a short two miles before you reach I-10 on the 15 freeway. You can see from the side of the picture how hard the wind was blowing. All the trees were tilted dangerously to the side. It felt like we were underwater and the trees were the seaweed floating with the current!

Sometimes it was so bad you could barely see the car in front of you. All the cars came to a standstill. I can only compare the experience to driving through thick fogs.

And this is why there’s high wind advisory.